Radam, Tekkamen, and their common origins
by Cyblade Silver
Summary: Information about the Radam and the Tekkamen, in the universe of my Teknomorphs series.
1. The Radam

The "Teknoman Weapon System", created by the Radam, is organic in nature; it is made of organic crystals. The Radam have thus developed a technology that is organic in nature; even their spaceships are more organic than mechanical. While this means that the Radam Teknoman Weapon System is not mechanical, it is still the result of technology - just not technology as we humans have developed to date.

The Radam Teknoman armor is almost a living thing, existing in symbiosis with its wearers. The armor stores and focuses the bioenergy generated by its wearer. As the armor does not age, neither does the wearer age beyond that needed to achieve their physical prime. As long as they are not killed in battle, Teknomen or Tekkamen can exist indefinitely. The armor itself is made up of nearly impenetrable biometallic crystal. Only weapons made of the same substance, or concentrated beams of antimatter, are able to penetrate it.

  
Further, the armor is self-repairing: in most cases, any damage caused in battle will have been repaired by the next time it is called up. If the wearer is willing to waste the energy, the armor can repair itself even without changing back and forth.

The armor will also change with the need and experience of the wearer. For example, as Slade gains more experience with the armor, learns to better utilize it, and is given an outside power source at one point, he discovers the "Teknoman-Plus" version of his armor. (He can't use it very often as it takes much more bioenergy to power this highly evolved transformation; he can't afford to use that much energy unless it is absolutely necessary.)

In addition, while the Teknoman humans initially lose their clothing during transformation, as they become more used to the process and gain more control of it, they no longer become "starkers" when they send away the armor. The clothing, in all cases, is sent away to subspace. The higher and nearly inaccessible dimension that the Teknomen and the Tekkamen use to store their armor and weapons when not in use. The random energy fluctuations of subspace will destabilize and destroy any unshielded matter that is stored there for too long. In those cases, the clothes would be unrecoverable.

Since the weapons and armor are self-regenerating, the unstable energy of subspace is prevented from degenerating them to the point where they would be unusable.

In some cases, the Radam use the energy absorbing power of the armor by placing captive creatures in huge crystals and encasing their paralyzed bodies in basic Teknoman armor. The armor draws out the bioenergy so that the aliens can feed on it. In these cases, the captives are not strong enough to control the transformation or the armor - instead, the armor controls them, and they will eventually die as all their life force is siphoned off. 

  
The Teknoman Weapon System is called into being and later sent away by the 'triggering impulse' of the warrior, this is a specific thought pattern that activates the biocircuitry implanted inside the warrior's body. The biocircuits then act as a blueprint to the armor when it reforms. Each set of armor is by its very nature "tailored" to the individual warrior. Each warrior is controlled by a tiny Radam parasite that helps insure that they stay loyal to the Radam.

The parasites are visible as "eyes" in the armor of the wearer; most of the Radam-controlled Teknomen have these "eyes" on the back side of their armor near or over the neck - and the parasites control their hosts through the nerve clusters at the back of the neck where the spine connects to the brain.

Both Slade and Shara have managed to escape prior to being infected by parasites; the other Teknoman Weapon Systems remain firmly under the Radam's control. The parasites also help their hosts control the Teknoman Weapon Systems and enable them to remain in armor longer than the two who are not hosts.

Even those still under control cannot remain in armor indefinitely, since the energy drain of maintaining and using the armor is substantial and the more energy used by the warrior the sooner the armor will have to be released. The armor "lives" by using the bioenergy of its wearer.

  
The crystal in the center of the forehead of the helmet begins to blink when the wearer's energy is nearing its end. However, the wearer does not die immediately if this time limit is passed; instead they are subjected to so much pain that they go temporarily insane. Slade has a green colored crystal, while others possess red colored crystals. This is because their Radam parasite is nonexistent. Additionally, those under Radam control have red irises to their eyes, while both Slade and Shara have normal eyes. The presence or absence of the Radam parasites within the warrior will determine the color of the eyes.

The "lancer", or primary weapon, is only one of many ways that a Teknoman can engage in close-quarters combat. One of the preferred ways is hand-to-hand fighting, which all Radam have an instinctive affinity for. The other way is, of course, to use the lancer. Hunter Teknoman, as well as a select few Enforcer Teknomen have a short, secondary lancer called a 'tek-blade' built into their right wrist. This lancer is retractable, and is stored inside the armor when not in use.

Teknomen are stratified into three separate castes: Hunter, Enforcer and Warlord.

Hunter Teknomen are the smallest, fastest and sleekest of the three castes. They fight by making fast dives at their opponent using either their lancer, or their birdlike energy form. Some of them also fight hand-to-hand. They have sharply clawed gauntlets to aid them with close-in fighting.

Enforcer Teknomen are slower and more bulky than Hunters, but they more than make up for that with their sheer brute strength. Enforcers are the second strongest of the three castes, just below Warlords in terms of physical strength. Enforcers prefer to fight with short, sharp blows or hard, brutal strikes with their lancer.

Warlords are different than the other two castes in that they can only be created from a Hunter or Enforcer that is forced to evolve into the next, higher stage. The Warlord caste is the strongest and toughest, but also the slowest of all the castes. Of course, Warlords are the leaders and commanders in the Radam army, so they generally aren't expected to fight on the front lines. Some of them, though, decide to do just that.


	2. The Tekkamen

Tekkamen, despite sharing many of the traits of the Teknomen, are not the same. The Tekkamen were in fact created before the rise of the Radam Empire. A nearly omnipotent being calling itself the Ellimist designed the technology for creating Tekkamen, intending for them to protect the less advanced races of the universe.

However, his ancient enemy Crayak managed to get hold of one of the Tekkamen, a young Konavorian by the name of Rachanda. Tekkaman Rachanda became the first Teknoman, and Crayak renamed him Radam. The name meant 'Conqueror' in the Konavorian language.

The armor of the Tekkamen is made of the exact same substance as the Teknomen, as are their weapons. The 'hair' that all Tekkamen possess is made of the same substance as their under-armor, and acts as further protection for the back of the neck.

A Tekkaman's lancer will often have gemlike crystals imbedded in the haft or at the base of the blade. These gems act as energy collectors. When enough energy has been stored, the gems release a feedback blast that temporarily incapacitates their opponent.

Tekkamen are also divided into castes, but they have only two: Combatant and Healer.

Combatant Tekkamen are the warriors of the ancient race. They are quite powerful, and much more common than Healer Tekkamen.

Healer Tekkamen are one of the rarest of the ancient race. Healer Tekkamen are extremely empathic, and they also have the ability - as their name suggests - to heal other beings from wounds. Both physical and mental wounds can be cured with enough time.


	3. Advantages and disadvantages of Telepath...

Advantages and disadvantages of Telepathy vs. Thought-speak:

The most obvious advantage of true Telepathy over the form of Thought-speak that the Animorphs and Andalites use is the consideration of distance. Thought-speak has a limited range, once the intended recipient passes beyond this; the message becomes more and more garbled, to the point where it is nearly impossible to understand.

Telepathy, on the other hand, has an almost unlimited range. And, even if the intended recipient is outside that range, they will still sense that something is being said to them. Between two telepaths, the telepathy has no limits to its range.

Then again, one of the disadvantages of telepathy is that an experienced telepath can backtrack the message to its point of origin. With thought-speak, such an action would be impossible. Telepaths are also capable of invading and controlling another person's mind, sometimes without them even knowing about it.

Generally, the more experienced the telepath, the more subtle their efforts at control will be; to the point where the victim can even believe that they are performing the actions out of their own free will, when in fact they are being completely controlled be the telepath.

But, telepathy uses a significant amount of energy. An untrained telepath attempting to reach out and control the mind of another will quickly burn themselves out, causing them to lose consciousness. An extremely well-versed telepath can even take control of a person's vital automatic functions, stopping their heartbeat, breathing, or even basic brain functioning.


End file.
